WWE Money in the Bank Preview: Part 2

By Anthony Locicero - New York Sports Examiner Reporter - @anthonylocic on Twitter

This Sunday is World Wrestling Entertainment’s Money in the Bank pay-per-view, which will take place at the TD Garden in Boston. A new superstar has been added and a leaked DVD cover for Summerslam may have revealed who the new champ will be.

Last week, I broke down the pros and cons of each superstar winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Now I must make an addition.

Since then, the veteran Kane – THROUGH HELLFIRE AND BRIMSTONE! BAH GAWD, IT’S KANE! – has been added to the match.

Pros: Well, if I was really pressed to think of any… a Kane victory would cause a lot of heat since no one – and I’m pretty sure I’m speaking for everyone – wants to see the Devil’s Favorite Demon win the title long after his expiration date. If the WWE wanted to just piss everyone off, then Kane winning would do that.

Cons: Let’s face it – Kane is just in this match to cause havoc, and likely be Randy Orton’s enforcer. I don’t have to discuss in length how pointless it would be to have Kane to win, when realistically there’s no way he’s being booked to win anyway.

Thoughts: Kane is the eighth competitor in the match. I guess this raises the stakes, though if we look at who was on the DVD cover, we may already know the outcome…

A few days ago, Amazon released the official Summerslam DVD cover which featured John Cena and Brock Lesnar. Now, there’s been talk for quite some time that Brock Lesnar would face the champion – originally Daniel Bryan before his neck surgery – come August. But with Bryan’s neck sidelining him longer than expected, WWE had to move in a different direction.

Here’s what I wrote about Cena (with edits):

Pros: A title win for the leader of Cenation would most certainly pop the young kids and females in the crowd. Cena may even get some hometown support, though the 14-time WWE champion seemingly gets a mixed reaction wherever he goes. The Newbury, Mass. native doesn’t miss a lot of time and would certainly fit the bill as a ‘fighting’ champion. A win for Cena could mean a feud against a returning Daniel Bryan, a continuation of his program with Bray Wyatt, or possibly a feud against a top and/or up-and-coming superstar. (Or, with Brock Lesnar. But Lesnar isn’t going to wrestle until Summerslam. So, Cena has to face someone in the meantime. If it’s not a small program, then it will just be matches he’s thrown into while he cuts promos against Lesnar.)

Cons: Well… he’s John Cena. He doesn’t need the belt(s). He can always insert himself into the main event/title picture just because of who he is. Cena has been champion plenty of times before, and this could be a real chance for the WWE to put the title on someone else and shake things up. There’s talk of a heel champion emerging victorious. That would exclude the face of the company. (Those plans may be scrapped.)

As a meta-fan, I don’t want to see Cena win the title again. I would like to see a Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt or Cesaro get a chance, but I can understand it’s safe putting the belt on Cena. And, as much as his wrestling prowess – or lack thereof (FIVE MOVES OF DOOM) – Cena did have a classic match with Lesnar at Extreme Rules 2012.

I maybe wouldn’t mind a rematch between the two, but Lesnar has to go over in this situation. Not just because I’d be rooting for him – the Beast Incarnate ended The Undertaker’s undefeated streak at Wrestlemania. Lesnar, who is already a legit bad ass – and I give him a lot of credit for winning a NCAA wrestling title – can’t just come back and lose cleanly. It basically negates his victory over the Undertaker.

Could Cena possibly win with some outside interference or by some other circumstances? Sure, that could happen. Or, the leader of Cenation could go over cleanly, like he did at Extreme Rules, though Lesnar got the better of him all match.

I do see a downside to Lesnar winning: he’s a part-timer. Most fans are up in arms when a part-timer returns and is immediately thrust into the main event/championship picture (see The Rock; Boo-tista… I mean Batista). Lesnar is hardly ever on TV and wouldn’t make enough appearances as champion. Then again, The Rock held the title as a part-timer leading up to Wrestlemania 29 at MetLife Stadium.

I would love to see a Bryan/Lesnar match somewhere down the line. Even a Cesaro/Lesnar match, seeing as both superstars share the same manager, Paul Heyman.

But as of Thursday, the DVD cover was removed; replaced by a generic PPV logo. Supposedly, some WWE officials were upset by the leak. Does that mean that now someone else will win in order to not be predictable? We’ll see come Sunday.

I will list in order, from most likely to no f’n way, which superstar I believe has the best chance of being crowned champion: Randy Orton, John Cena, Antonio Cesaro, Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt, Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio, Hornswoggle, The Brooklyn Brawler, The Iron Shiek, TL Hopper, Mo from Men on a Mission, the Gobbledygooker, Mean Gene Okerlund’s mustache, and Kane.

Now, the second ladder match – the traditional briefcase match – seems to exist only to further the Dean Ambrose/Seth Rollins feud, with a match at the next PPV, Battleground, to follow. I have no problem with that.

I firmly believe that Rollins will win, with either some sort of outside interference or after a showdown on the ladder with Ambrose.

But if WWE went in a different direction, the next likely winners – in order – would be: Ambrose, Ziggler, BNB, RVD, Kingston/Swagger.

I would put Ziggler ahead of Barrett solely because the latter suffered a shoulder injury during the Smackdown taping. Barrett has had a lot of bad luck with ill-time injuries, and this one comes when he’s enjoying his best success post-Nexus.

As for the other matches officially announced for the card, I’m betting on Erick Rowan and Luke Harper defeating The Uso’s for the Tag Team Titles and Paige getting beat up then hitting her finisher out of nowhere to knock off Naomi.

Unofficially, Rybaxel (Ryback and Curtis Axel) may square off against Goldust and Stardust (Cody Rhodes). If that match happens, the latter team will win.

Also, *POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT* Big E vs. Rusev could be added to the card. This would be another rematch. It will likely go longer than the 30 seconds or one minute it takes Rusev to crush jobbers, but no more than four to six minutes. Big E will get some offense in, but Rusev will win. Rusev crush.

I also expect Bo Dallas to win a squash match to improve to 10 and Bo. Do any of you out there Bo-lieve? (Hi Jason!)

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Two weeks after firing Mike Pacora, who had very little success running Fordham basketball, The university named Jeff Neubauer its head coach.Neubauer compiled a record of 188-134 record at his career at Eastern Kentucky, who showed recruiting sucess in the Sunbelt which led the team to...

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Two weeks after firing Mike Pacora, who had very little success running Fordham basketball, The university named Jeff Neubauer its head coach.Neubauer compiled a record of 188-134 record at his career at Eastern Kentucky, who showed recruiting sucess in the Sunbelt which led the team to a March Madness appearance in 2014.For the best information...